Wild Beasts freak me out: Two Dancers, Booty Calls and All The King’s Men

From the “Auld Grey Town,” Kendal, England (known for mint cakes, snuff and limestone grey buildings) indie-pop, 4-piece boy band, Wild Beasts recently released a dramatic, sometimes Wham!-reminiscent, 10 song album, Two Dancers (9/8/2009, Domino), filled with freak-haunt falsetto and repetitive dance rhythms that aim to entice a suspended state. Listening to the first track from the record, I was drifting off until a high-pitched, Brit accented, distinctly enunciated male voice announced, “This is a booty call…” I rapidly sifted through open windows and applications to find the source and replay for verification of what I’d just heard. Yep. That’s exactly what he said. And more. I’ll admit that first track listen colored my perception of the remaining record and I’m pretty sure it was designed exactly for that purpose. Later songs emphasize sailor-ghost choruses and favoritism of the word, “pucker.” Just as I was considering I may have unfairly passed judgement on the overall tone of Wild Beasts, the title track popped up with lyrical mentions of “his dancing cock down by his knees” and “my bones between your teeth.” Connect the dots however it works best for you.

Though their underlying drone aims to acheive a black hole pull, Wild Beasts spare the listener from such gravitational force, instead accomplising shocking and unsettling with Hayden Thorpe’s otherworldly falsetto which claws out disturbing subject matter through strange lyrics that go beyond explorations of gender and sexuality. Wild Beasts do weird like none other, playing the card of unpredictability to elicit the circle of respect that might be similarly afforded to a crazy inmate.

Check out the Drinks with Wild Beasts interview for personal notes on songwriting and cats with sweaters. Make sure to visit Pitchfork’s very favorable review HERE. And though I could have done without the gratuitous ass-shot of the guitar player early-on in the video, I generally warmed up to the band upon viewing their recent live performance of All The King’s Men on Jools Holland: